[982a]
[1]
Thus it is clear that Wisdom is
knowledge of certain principles and causes.Since
we are investigating this kind of knowledge, we must consider what
these causes and principles are whose knowledge is Wisdom. Perhaps it
will be clearer if we take the opinions which we hold about the wise
man. We consider
first, then, that the wise man knows all things, so far as it is
possible, without having knowledge of every one of them individually;
next, that the wise man is he who can comprehend difficult things,
such as are not easy for human comprehension (for sense-perception,
being common to all, is easy, and has nothing to do with Wisdom); and
further that in every branch of knowledge a man is wiser in proportion
as he is more accurately informed and better able to expound the
causes. Again among
the sciences we consider that that science which is desirable in
itself and for the sake of knowledge is more nearly Wisdom than that
which is desirable for its results, and that the superior is more
nearly Wisdom than the subsidiary; for the wise man should give
orders, not receive them; nor should he obey others, but the less wise
should obey him.Such in kind
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and in number are the opinions which we
hold with regard to Wisdom and the wise. Of the qualities there
described the knowledge of everything must necessarily belong to him
who in the highest degree possesses knowledge of the universal,
because he knows in a sense all the particulars which it comprises.
These things, viz. the most universal, are perhaps the hardest for man
to grasp, because they are furthest removed from the senses.Again, the most exact of the
sciences are those which are most concerned with the first principles;
for those which are based on fewer principles are more exact than
those which include additional principles; e.g., arithmetic is more
exact than geometry.Moreover, the science which investigates causes is more instructive
than one which does not, for it is those who tell us the causes of any
particular thing who instruct us. Moreover, knowledge and
understanding which are desirable for their own sake are most
attainable in the knowledge of that which is most knowable. For the
man who desires knowledge for its own sake will most desire the most
perfect knowledge,
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